While Google has dominated internet search, it has struggled with social networking and is facing stiff competition from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, which are stealing web traffic and engineering talent. Mr Schmidt said the move was an effort to speed up decision-making at Google.

Google said that Schmidt has drawn up a plan to sell some of his stock in the company.

A filing said: ‘The pre-arranged trading plan was adopted in order to allow Eric to sell a portion of his Google stock as part of his long-term strategy for individual asset diversification and liquidity.’

As of 31st December, Schmidt had about 9.2 million shares in Google. Schmidt plans to sell something in the region of 500,000 shares, reducing his control of the voting power which is currently at 9.6%.